Boaters Find Sandbar in the Middle of the Ocean. Turns Out to Be the Live Birth of an Island

On August 12, 2006, Captain Fredrik Fransson and the crew aboard the Maiken were sailing in the South Pacific Ocean when they came across a truly bizarre sight—at first glance it appeared to be a sandbar in the middle of the ocean…

Below you will find a recount of the once-in-a-lifetime experience along with photos and an update from Discover Magazine. You can find the original blog posts and photos here and here. The recount below was originally published on Reddit / Imgur.

In an update one year after the unbelievable event, Discover Magazine reported that the island had disappeared, lasting for roughly four months before being swallowed by the ocean. Before then, the island had grown to 240-ft in height and was still venting sulfur gases in December of 2006.

However, when volcanologist Scott Bryan of London’s Kingston University went to investigate the island in February of 2007, he found the island—originally over a tenth of a mile square—had almost completely vanished.